Former Colorado Buffaloes left tackle David Bakhtiari became the first player with ties to the state of Colorado to be drafted when Green Bay made Bakhtiari the 12th pick of the fourth round Saturday.

Bakhtiari, 6-foot-4 and 299 pounds, was a three-year starter for the Buffs and gave up his final year of college eligibility to declare for the 2013 NFL Draft.

The native Californian started at right tackle as a freshman and then, as a sophomore and junior, he replaced current NFL starter Nate Solder of the Patriots at left tackle. Lacking the preferable size for a tackle, Bakhtiari may be projected as a NFL guard.

“I feel like I can play tackle (at the NFL level),” Bakhtiari said. “But it’s whatever the organization wants. I’m all about the team.”

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Former University of Denver assistant coach Seth Appert has signed an eight-year extension with Rensselaer to effectively take his name out of list of finalists to replace the fired George Gwozdecky, his mentor.

The 38-year-old Appert told The Denver Post on Saturday his “heart is with RPI right now, and we’re excited about the future and building and what we have done so far.” Appert was one of four finalists.

Former DU assistant Derek Lalonde of the USHL’s Green Bay Gamblers, who succeeded Appert at Denver, interviewed Thursday, and former University of Maine standout Jim Montgomery had an on-campus interview Friday. Montgomery is currently the head coach/general manger of the USHL’s Dubuque Fighting Saints.

Boston College associate head coach Greg Brown was scheduled to interview Saturday, but that might have fell through. Montgomery, 43, who played four years at Maine and enjoyed a 12-year professional career that included 122 NHL games, is considered the leading candidate.

Meanwhile, DU junior center Nick Shore is expected to announced his signing with the Los Angeles Kings, forgoing his senior year and becoming the sixth player in the past two years to leave college early for an NHL deal.

Please see DU line chart below. The Pioneers have just 11 forwards and six defensemen available, because freshman W Garrett Allen has a finger injury and junior W Jarrod Mermis is on a leave of absence on the heels of his brother’s departure from the team to the London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League. Freshman D Dakota Mermis was apparently unhappy at DU and wanted to make a mid-season change. It appears Jarrod, who has been in the coaching staff’s doghouse for much of the season, is evaluating his options before schools resumes Monday. Of course, nobody wants to see a kid turn down a college education, particularly as a junior. But it is also a shame to see a freshman bail on his commitment to any team and, in this case, leave his NCAA squad high and dry.

DU began the season with just seven D, because junior Wade Bennett was forced to hang ’em up before the season because of nagging injuries.

Hey, we all want to play in the NHL, and the college route isn’t for everybody. But word is Dakota Mermis — who played in all 19 games and had one goal and four points at DU — was a good student but has a history of “not being happy,” and that might stem from the advise he was getting. He joined the U.S. National Development Program in 2010, signing the standard two-year commitment. But after he played 2010-11 for the U17 team, he sought his release, and I hear the departure wasn’t easy or pretty. He joined the USHL’s stacked Green Bay Gamblers last season, playing for former DU assistant Derek Lalonde, and according to sources, he or his advisers often thought he wasn’t treated right.

Our DU hockey/Colorado Thunderbirds story is being held for Friday, Nov. 16, to help advance the Gold Pan series (Denver at Colorado College Nov. 16; Colorado College at Denver Nov. 17). We will link that story here when it runs.

Here’s what we know. The Frank Serratore-founded Thunderbirds, who primarily operate out of Big Bear Ice Arena in Aurora, are producing Division I (and major-junior) talent throughout North America. The DU Pioneers have benefited the most, but Air Force is in the loop and CC is catching on. The following unedited information was provided by the Colorado Thunderbirds.

BOULDER — Colorado coach Jon Embree served as an assistant in the NFL for four years (three with Kansas City, one at Washington), so naturally he was asked Tuesday during his weekly media luncheon about the controversial ending of the Monday Night Football game between Seattle and Green Bay which, on a Hail Mary pass, appeared to give the wrong team the victory.

The replacement officials awarded a touchdown catch for Seattle when replays showed that a Packers defender had two hands on the ball for a would-be interception.

“Can Roger Goodell’s hand reach this far and get in my pocket?” Embree joked, referring to NFL coaches getting fined for complaining about the officiating. “You know what? I saw three plays in that game. That was one of them, and I could not believe it.

“It’s just crazy. The NFL is the best game out there. It’s the best league and the best game. I think what people are understanding when they do get it fixed is just how good (regular NFL officials) are. They’re always a target, but those guys get it right a lot.

“They always talk about ‘the integrity of the game.’ It seems that this is affecting the integrity of the game now. Hopefully, they get it fixed.”

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GREEN BAY, WIS. – Join me for a live chat of the Pioneers’ NCAA game with Ferris State. A couple of notes: Jason Zucker and Chris Knowlton will play for DU today. Beau Bennett will not.DU-FERRIS STATE HOCKEY

Random thoughts after the Women’s NCAA Tournament bracket was announced Monday night with the Final Four in Denver approaching April 1 and 3:

WHAT!? ARE THEY KIDDING!? How is women’s basketball going to be taken seriously when they stick teams who’ve worked hard all season to get a No. 2 ranking and their second-round games are in their opponents’ cities? OK, it could give the women’s field some badly needed upsets but parity is improving fast enough to where they don’t have to resort to this.

Greg Christopher, the Bowling Green athletic director who’s the Women’s NCAA Tournament Selection Committee chairman, said host sites are chosen nearly a year in advance. It can’t be helped. They need the host sites to avoid the disaster a few years ago when the women tried going neutral courts and on TV the first and second rounds looked like AAU tournaments in July. No one went.

But I want to hear Kentucky after getting beat by Iowa State, a No. 10 seed, which gets to play its first two games in Ames, Iowa. Ever been to a college basketball in Ames? Men or women? Those people are nuts. Kentucky, let alone seventh-seeded Wisconsin-Green Bay in the first round, won’t have an easy time.

Duke will likely face the same problem in Nashville against Vanderbilt and Tennessee in Chicago against DePaul.

Don’t feel sorry for Wisconsin-Green Bay, getting only a seventh seed at 30-1. Believe it or not, the Phoenix went through the entire season without playing a ranked team. Parity in the women’s game? Sure hasn’t reached the Horizon League.

Poor Oklahoma State. The Cowgirls bounced back from the tragedy of losing their top two coaches to a November plane crash and fought their way onto the bubble. But at 16-12 and 8-10, tied for sixth in the Big 12, they were the first one left out of the bracket.

* Big Ten got a record seven teams in the tournament but second-place Ohio State (25-6, 11-5 league) only got a No. 8 seed. If it gets past Florida, it must play unbeaten Baylor. Committee chair Greg Christopher said his committee actually had sixth-place Nebraska (24-8, 10-6) ranked ahead of the Buckeyes.

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Ninth-grader Dylan Gambrell has committed to play hockey for the University of Denver, his coach said. Gambrell plays for the U16 Colorado Thunderbirds (Tier 1, triple-A), coached by former Pioneers forward Angelo Ricci, whose organization has become a feeder program to the local NCAA powerhouse.

Gambrell, a forward, has three more years of high school. He is from Boney, Wa., and has been invited to attend the U.S. National Development Program’s 40-man camp March 19-23 in Ann Arbor, Mi. He is expected to be selected in the U.S. Hockey League’s Futures Draft on May 1, for 1996 birth years.

Gambrell attends Pine Creek High School and lives with teammate Brandon Carlo and his family.

“We are very proud of Dylan for this exceptional recognition and we wish him all the best in the future,” Ricci said in a release. “The Thunderbird organization continues to provide a vehicle for the elite student-athlete to develop and advance to the next level. We are extremely excited for Dylan, he will be a wonderful addition to the Pioneer program.”

DU sophomore Nick Shore and Pio freshmen Danny Doremus and Josiah Didier played for the Thunderbirds.

The following DU committed list was compiled by LetsGoDU.com and the guys in bold played for the Thunderbirds:

I spoke with DU’s new goaltending coach and No. 2 assistant David Lassonde this week and the longtime New Hampshire assistant made three things very clear:

1. He is unconcerned about going from associate head coach at UNH to becoming the No. 2 assistant under a head coach whose outdated 12-year contract is set to expire in three years, or at the end of the 2013-14 season. The relatively underpaid George Gwozdecky, 58, wants an extension and, given his record — he’s put together a program-record 10 consecutive 20-win seasons, the second longest active streak in the country — he should be compensated appropriately. Question is, will DU go back to making its hockey skipper the school’s top-paid coach?

2. By leaving UNH, where he spent 17 of his 23 years as a Division I coach, the 48-year-old Lassonde could be indirectly setting himself up to replace his mentor, Wildcats coach Dick Umile. The 62-year-old Umile is entering his 22nd season at his almamater and, according to Lassonde, could be nearing retirement in “four or five years.”

Derek Lalonde returned my call today after his press conference in Green Bay, where he was named head coach of the Gamblers of the United States Hockey League.

The extremely affable Lalonde goes from DU’s second assistant/goaltending coach to one of the top jobs in North America’s premier junior-A league.

“It’s bittersweet,” Lalonde said.

“It’s tough to walk away from Denver, because obviously it’s a special place to work, because of Steve Miller and George Gwozdecky and because we have a special team coming back. That made it very tough to walk away from. At the same time, the timing just feels right. It’s a great organization, they’ve had a lot of success over the last few years and it’s a great community for the family. It’s time. I need to be a head coach and there is no better spot to get my first head-coaching experience than here in Green Bay.”

The DU hockey team is trying to hit a home run with Derek Lalonde’s successor as assistant coach/goalies. According to multiple sources, the Pioneers are dangling the job in front of longtime New Hampshire goalie coach David Lassonde.

Lassonde, who played goalie at Providence College from 1981-83, has spent 18 of his 24 years as a Division I assistant with the Wildcats; he also worked at Wisconsin and Miami (Ohio). He is the longest-tenured UNH assistant coach in the history of the program and has mentored All-American Wildcat goalies Ty Conklin, Kevin Regan, Mike Ayers, Jeff Levy and Brian Foster, according to his bio on the UNH hockey website.

DU associate head coach Steve Miller told me the Green Bay Gamblers of the United States Hockey League have not contacted him about their head-coaching vacancy. Miller was a finalist for the Green Bay job a year ago, before Eric Rud was hired. Rud, a former CC defenseman and captain, resigned from Green Bay last week to join CC as an assistant, his second stint in that role with the Tigers.

Based on the Green Bay website, the Gamblers’ coaching search continues, but it doesn’t appear Miller, a Wisconsin native, will be leaving Denver.

Former Colorado College captain Eric Rud has resigned as head coach of the USHL’s Green Bay Gamblers to return to Colorado Springs as an assistant coach with the Tigers. The switch might lead longtime Denver associate head coach Steve Miller to Green Bay as Rud’s successor.

Miller and Rud were finalists for the Green Bay job a year ago. Miller, a Wisconsin native, was crushed when he didn’t get the one USHL job he would have taken. I have a text into “Killer” and will update as soon as possible.

UPDATE: As of 5 p.m., Miller said he has not been contacted by Green Bay.

The United States Hockey League entry draft was held Monday, and 216 players from 24 states, eight Canadian provinces and four other countries (Finland, Lativia, Russia and Sweden) were selected in North America’s premier Tier I junior-A league.

The Colorado Thunderbirds had nine current players selected — the most from one organization — plus three former players. Some people might not quite understand what the USHL or junior-A is all about, or how impressive the Thunderbirds are in developing kids to play college hockey, so here’s a quick explainer:

The following Front Range midget players were today selected in the United States Hockey League (Tier 1 junior-A) entry draft (please see previous blog about Colorado Thunderbirds star and DU-bound forward Tyler Pham being the No. 3 overall selection):

Young center Tyler Pham, who played on the Colorado Thunderbirds’ under-18 team in 2010-11 and is committed to DU for 2012, was selected No. 3 overall in the United States Hockey League entry draft by the Indiana Ice (CORRECTED).

Pham is pegged to play one season in the junior-A league before joining the Pioneers.

Forward Dakota Mermis, who is scheduled to be a DU classmate with Pham, was picked the the Green Bay Gamblers, at No. 14 overall. Mermis, the younger brother of current DU freshman Jarrod Mermis, played for the U.S. National Development Program U17 team last season.

Not positive why Mermis was selected in the USHL draft, considering the USNDP is usually a two-year commitment when a player joins the U17 team. My DU sources say Mermis is indeed planning on playing with the U.S. U18s next season, and the deep Gamblers are simply taking a chance that Mermis won’t join DU in 2012 and require another year of junior-A.

Within the next two-plus years, the Colorado-raised players listed below will begin college on hockey scholarships — including a combined 11 headed to Denver, Colorado College or Air Force. This is a unique group of kids. Yes, we’ve written stories about local kids making it big from the beginning of the impressionable Avalanche era. Numerous times. But this is different. All these young stars played (or are currently playing) for one youth organization — the Colorado Thunderbirds — and are riding the state’s red-hot Tier I triple-A hockey wave.

The J.D. Corbin, Drew Shore and Richard Bachman way of doing things aren’t necessarily over, but now, leaving home during puberty is only an option. No longer do driven young Front Range hockey players have to move to Canada, Michigan, Minnesota or Massachusetts between the ages of 13-16 to prepare themselves for college or pro hockey. They can do it right here, with the Thunderbirds or one of the other four triple-A organizations, and most importantly, they are able to graduate high school with their childhood friends. As a parent, this is a huge relief. You can now cater to your child’s hockey dreams and still have them around until graduation, or at least through their junior year, after which some choose to begin a junior-A career — usually a necessary step before college hockey.

I compiled this list with the guidance of former DU center Angelo Ricci, a Thunderbirds’ coach and the organization’s director of operations. A year ago, the Ricci-coached U16 team won the national Tier 1 title — Colorado’s first triple-A hockey crown. Front Range teams have won Tier II double-A national titles, but never at the elite youth (under-18, triple-A) level. Two players from Ricci’s U16 title team have committed to Denver, and two others to Colorado College (see below). Two more — team captain and center Landon Smith and forward Quentin Shore — are uncommitted but will undoubtedly play Division I or major-junior.

Unless already noted, I’m not listing when these guys are expected to join their college teams, because those things change all the time. Sometimes players are asked to play another year of junior-A, and other times the program wants them earlier than originally tabbed.

(Birth years in parenthesis)GOING TO DENVER

F Daniel Doremus (1991)
Comment: Aspen native and USHL rookie played through U18s and produced team-high plus-20 rating and 19 goals (second on team) for Sioux Falls in regular season; considered an excellent freshman-ready prospect.

D Josiah Didier (1993)
Comment: Alternate captain for 2010 U16 national-champion team, skipped U18s to go straight to USHL, where he was plus-5 in 58 regular-season games for Cedar Rapids; expected to be mid-round NHL draft pick next month and is considered prized DU recruit.

F Matt Tabrum (1991)
Comment: Son of former CC assistant coach Mark Tabrum grew up in Colorado Springs, played U16 TBirds 2005-06 before organization had U18s; played for the USHL’s Omaha Lancers this past season.

F Tyler Pham (1994)
Comment: Played for U18 team this past season, expected to be first- or second-round pick in USHL draft on May 16 and will play at least one year of junior-A.

F Brad Hawkinson (1994)
Comment: Played on 2010 U16 champion team and U18s this past season; headed to USHL’s Lincoln Stars this coming season and will play at least one year of junior-A.

GOING TO COLORADO COLLEGE

F Christian Heil (1994)
Comment: Played on 2010 U16 champion team and U18s this past season; headed to USHL’s Chicago Steel and will play at least one year of junior-A.

D Jaccob Slavin (1994)
Comment: Captain of U16 team this past season, will skip U18s and play for USHL’s Chicago Steel at at least one season.

D Gustav Olofsson (1994)
Comment: Alternate captain of U16s this past season, will play U18s this coming season as a high-school junior; expected to be picked in USHL draft May 16.

GOING TO AIR FORCE

F Ben Carey (1992)
Comment: TBirds alum currently with the Wenatchee Wild of the NAHL; expected to be selected in USHL draft May 16 and play another year of junior-A, then join the Falcons in 2012.

F Max Hartner (1991)
Comment: Won the USHL championship with the Green Bay Gamblers a year ago, his second year of junior-A. Is currently captain and is scheduled to play another year in Green Bay before joining AFA in 2012.

F Brad McBride (1991)
Comment: He did it the old way. Played for 2006-07 U15 TBirds before moving to Canada; played in BCHL this past season. Scheduled to join the Falcons this fall.

GOING TO NEBRASKA-OMAHA

G Ryan Massa (1990)
Comment: Almost 21, Massa has been patient en route to signing with UNO and playing for coach Dean Blais. He has played three years of junior-A, including the past two with the USHL’s Fargo Force.

GOING TO PRINCETON

G Ryan Benitez (1990)
Comment: Played junior-A in Canada this past season; also product of Mike Gempeler’s Colorado-based national development camp.

GOING TO OHIO STATE

F Darik Angeli (1990)
Comment: Lakewood native has played for three USHL teams and is pegged to join the Buckeyes this fall.

GOING TO NEW HAMPSHIRE

D Matias Cleland (1994)
Comment: Played for U16 champion team and U18s this past season; headed to USHL’s Waterloo Blackhawks for 2011-12.

F Quentin Shore (1994)
Comment: Alternate captain and leading scorer of 2010 U16 champions; just finished first of two-year commitment for U.S. National Development Program in Ann Arbor, Mich., and will play for U18 American all-star team this coming season; likely headed to DU in 2012.

F Landon Smith (1993)
Comment: Captain of 2010 U16 champions and played on U18s this past season; played three games for Wenatchee Wild in December but is mulling junior-A offers for next season.

F Gavin Stoick (1994)
Comment: Same as “Q” Shore — 2010 national champion playing for the U17s in Ann Arbor and uncommitted but a major prospect.

NOTE: Former TBird Seth Swenson had an offer to play in Ann Arbor with the USNDP but chose major-junior (Portland, WHL). . . . Some other former TBirds already playing Division I hockey include Nick Shore (DU), Brooks Dyroff (Boston College), Sean Lorenz (Notre Dame), Brett Kostolansky (New Hampshire), Jake Sloat (Bowling Green), Brandon Blandina (Robert Morris), Josh Holmstrom (UMass-Lowell; his brother Ben also played TBirds and at UM-L and now with Philadelphia Flyers), David Brown (Providence) and Nick Dineen (CC). There might be others that have escaped our memory. . . . I’d like to produce similar blogs about other triple-A organizations sending kids off to college on scholarships. I encourage you to provide me with that information.

Terry Frei graduated from Wheat Ridge High School in the Denver area and has degrees in history and journalism from the University of Colorado-Boulder. He worked for the Rocky Mountain News while attending CU and joined the Post staff after graduation. He has also worked at the Oregonian in Portland, Ore., and The Sporting News. His seventh book, March 1939: Before the Madness, was issued in February 2014.